1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hinge device of a flip type mobile telephone, and in particular, to a hinge device with conducting means for electrically connecting a speaker mounted on a flip cover to a body of the mobile telephone.
2. Description of the Related Art
A mobile telephone such as cellular phone, digital phone, CT-2 (second generation Cordless Telephone) and PCS (Personal Communications Service) phone, is divided into a bar type, a flip type and a folder type according to shapes. Though all the types of the mobile telephones are widely used at present, the flip type and folder type mobile telephones have a tendency to be more popular. The reason that the flip type mobile telephone is popularized is because a flip cover mounted on a telephone body protects the buttons and functions as a reflection plate against the voice that the user utters. In particular, the flip type and folder type mobile telephones are popularized, because they are advantageous to miniaturization. In the flip type and folder type mobile telephones, a distance between a speaker (or earpiece) and a microphone (or mouthpiece) should be about 14 cm, if possible.
The flip type mobile telephone includes a body, a flip cover and a hinge device for mechanically coupling the flip cover to the telephone body. Further, the hinge device provides a specific opening angle between the flip cover and the telephone body.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,697,124 issued to Jung, discloses a mobile telephone including a hinge device mounted on a lower end of the body, for providing the opening angle between the flip cover and the body. In the conventional structure, the flip cover is electrically disconnected from the body so that a speaker cannot be installed in the flip cover. That is, the flip cover simply protects the buttons on the body and functions as a reflection plate for concentrating a user""s voice to the microphone. Further, having many elements, the conventional hinge device is disadvantageous to miniaturization of the telephone and has a structure unfavorable in electrically connecting the flip cover to a PCB (Printed Circuit Board) of the body so that the speaker may not be installed in the flip cover. The excessive number of the elements may increase a failure rate and decrease a productivity. The foregoing drawbacks of the conventional hinge device make it difficult to provide a small and light mobile telephone.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a hinge device with conducting means in a flip type mobile telephone.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a hinge device capable of enabling a flip cover to be detached from a body.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a hinge device with conducting means for connecting a speaker mounted on a flip cover to a body, thus contributing to miniaturization of a mobile telephone.
To achieve the above object, there is provided a hinge device of a flip type mobile telephone including a body and a flip cover with a speaker mounted thereon. In the hinge device, a hinge assembly includes a spring connector pin; a hinge shaft having at least one open end, a pair of opposite protrusions, a pair of opposite indents, and a cylindrical inner wall into which the connector pin is pressed, said shaft being movable along a rotation axis; a hinge housing having at least one open end into which the hinge shaft is inserted; guide means for enabling the hinge shaft to move rectilinearly in the hinge housing; and securing means for preventing separation of the hinge shaft from the hinge housing. The hinge device further includes a coupling member having a pair of opposite protrusions and a pair of opposite indents, for keeping in sliding surface contact with the hinge shaft; and conducting means interposed between the hinge assembly and the coupling member, for electrically connecting the speaker to a printed circuit board of the body.
The spring connector pin includes a first conductive hinge can, a second conductive hinge can secured to the first hinge can, and a coil spring interposed between the first and second hinge cans, for providing a restitution force.
Preferably, the securing means comprises grooves formed at the indents of the hinge shaft, and protrusions formed at the end of the hinge housing, to be inserted into the grooves when the hinge shaft is pressed into the hinge housing.
The conducting means comprises a conducting member interposed between the spring connector pin and the coupling member. Preferably, the conducting member may be a contact plate or a conductive spiral coil spring.